Manchester City in crisis: Five problems Pep Guardiola needs to fix to get the Premier League champions back on track

This time around, Pep Guardiola is making wrong history. For the first time in his managerial career, he was beaten four on the spin by the 12-time league winners. They are five points clear of the Premier League summit, EFL Cup and Champions League. This may be a luxury crisis for many teams, but by the standards Guardiola has set for his team, this feels like more than just a shake-up. .

After all, they couldn’t have felt more defeated after defeats to Brighton, Sporting and Bournemouth (and probably Tottenham too). After weeks of wins against mediocre opposition, City are in second-best form behind the side they would have overcome a few weeks ago. And that doesn’t bode well for the fixture list, which features Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus and Manchester United in seven games after the international break. If so, there are a lot of things Guardiola needs to fix. Here’s a snapshot of the city’s growing problems.

1. Have you seen the team he is putting out?

19-year-old centre-back Jahmai Simpson-Pusey has been pushed into the single position where depth should be provided. Josko Gvardiol, the Premier League’s best left-back, asked to walk across to support him. An improved but still largely under-the-radar Mateus Nunes gets minutes on the left flank, while Mateo Kovacic fills the same role centrally in a phase of his career where the pressure is expected to ease. Make no mistake. They are still a good enough team to beat their opponents, but I can’t imagine Brighton would have expected the game to be any better than theirs when the team sheet was down to a back four of wingers.

City have been hit hard on the injury front and are feeling the blow even more because they have been so targeted. Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and John Stones have all missed extended periods or recent matches. Outside of the frontman, where the recruitment team will likely have taken a bit of a gamble this summer, there have been injury issues with Oscar Babb, Jeremy Doku, Sabinho, Jack Grealish and, of course, Kevin De Bruyne.

Since appointing Guardiola, City have acquiesced to his wishes for a smaller squad. In fact, the situation almost seems more extreme with each passing year, to the point that even in treble-winning seasons it never seems like it takes more than two major injuries for this team to get out of real trouble. This season they did that by coming to a group that seemed almost satirically small. Seriously, who will play up front if Erling Haaland goes down with Julian Alvarez not being replaced?

Proposed solution: Bandage your body and buy your players in January

2. What’s happening to Phil Foden?

At the end of last season, it seemed like the era of Phil Foden’s Manchester City (shared with Erling Haaland) might be coming. A dazzling portfolio of long-range strikes earned the then 23-year-old the Player of the Year award, and it looked as if he could make it through the Euros and secure an ever-growing role in City’s never-ending empire. None of that happened. An extended summer break and illness upon his return have limited Foden to just eight Premier League appearances so far, registering one assist in 461 minutes. The Champions League has brought better results, but all his top honors in that competition come with the statement: “It was a slow start.”

Maybe it’s slower because his position is changing. Having made the right wing his place until the end of the 2023-24 season, Foden has moved infield this season and been tasked with plugging a Kevin De Bruyne-shaped hole in the side. Rather than a right winger moving inside to attack the penalty box, Foden is positioned more like a traditional number 10, moving into the right half space, De Bruyne style.

Without the Belgian, Foden has had to act as a much more creative engine and it is worth noting that his expected assists (xA) per 90 minutes of 0.54 in the Premier League are currently the best in the league. But even that comes with a caveat. If you discount dead balls from the equation, Foden’s output drops to 0.32, which is still a high score, but shouldn’t it be higher if he’s Manchester City’s central creative midfielder? If his shooting wasn’t as good as it was last season, you might say that’s not the case, but it’s fallen flat.

It’s one thing to see about a 10% drop in shots from open play, but there seems to be too much self-indulgence in the effort he’s putting in. Guardiola has made no secret of his desire to see his players “break the game” with shots from distance, and Foden did so brilliantly last season. Take this pearl against Manchester United. Foden is in space and running towards the ball. A good long ranger, although a bit further back than the corner of the box where he took so many strikes last season.

Then there’s the game against AFC Bournemouth, for which the great Patrick Ewing will have to be summoned in person. “Step back and do that on one leg. What kind of shot is that? Have you ever shot that shot? Do you practice that shot? When do you work on that shot? By yourself? I’ve never seen you shoot that shot. I’ve never seen you shoot that shot. So don’t shoot.

Foden’s xG per shot was nowhere near the best last season, but his batting, which was just below the Premier League average, hinted at a player who could slot into key positions as well as pose a threat from distance. Now there are so many of the latter that there is nothing the goalkeeper can do. Then again, you can see why Foden is taking bad shots. If he didn’t, who would actually try?

Proposed solution: When De Bruyne returns, move Foden back out wide

3. Can someone other than Holland take pictures?

When Manchester City signed the best pure striker in the game, it made absolute sense for them to zigzag their approach to better utilize Erling Haaland. Considering the trophies they have won, it would be foolish to claim they have not been successful so far. However, the early signs this season are that Haaland’s goals are not contributing to any effective football to win games comfortably. The city has put too much effort into building supply lines.

Of City’s 212 shots in the Premier League this season, 55 have been Haaland’s shots. Once inside the penalty area the weighting becomes even more pronounced, with a full 37% of their efforts being Norway’s. Their xG? More than half are Haaland’s. He scored 11.62 points, including one penalty. The next player on that list at 1.69 (not a typo) is Savinho.

Haaland’s last two years haven’t been like this. Someone like Alvarez, Foden or Ilkay Gundogan will get some decent shots, xG and goals. You can’t have Mateo Kovacic’s 20 hits and hopes as the second most frequent shot type. The shot distribution this season is the kind of thing you’d expect from a pretty bad Premier League side riding one striker, taking numerous penalties and conjuring up some magic. To put it harshly, “Haaland conjure Something Magic” felt like City’s trajectory following their defeat at Vitality.

Haaland was such a great player that he needed a running mate. At full fitness, the tandem with De Bruyne provides this. The first clause is doing some heavy lifting there. Gundogan doesn’t look like a player who can force a third man into the box like he did in his first spell. Jeremy Doku and Savinho are more likely to stay wide and attack the goal, creating more for other players than taking shots themselves.

But someone will have to achieve the goal. Haaland can average goals, xG and around 5 shots per game, but only if he concedes too much at the other end.

Proposed solution: Shoot someone other than Holland.

4. Do these guys have too much mileage on their legs to defend?

And they conceded they have scored 13 goals in 11 games – more than double league leaders Liverpool. In fact, there are so many people against them that a pattern is starting to emerge. You see, there are a few balls flying around the press and City’s opponents are flying up the pitch. Evanilson, Jorgen Strand Larsen and Sammie Szmodics have all scored the same number of goals this season.

Over the past few years, City have been blocking these attacks at the source. Their press didn’t give the opposition any time to get past the line. Now, why the rush? City are pressing as often as they did last season. The number of passes per defensive action is 10.28, not 10.06. However, it is much less effective in regaining possession. Resilience in the final third dropped from 7.5 to 4.91, and opponent progressive passes went up. City agencies are pushing for the site, but it’s being ignored.

The reasons are varied. Haaland is not an agile leader in a system without possession, and those around him are often too young, too old or physically unsuited to the Premier League. A few years ago Gundogan and Bernardo Silva were able to get into the groove threatening Callow defenders who wanted to ‘play right’ and build up from the back. Now the pair, both in their 30s, have a season ahead of them until July. They’ve learned enough lessons about late-season rallies to put them in good stead as the clock ticks forward. I’m stocking up on something now.

Kyle Walker was a cheat code paired with the high line. Few men could beat him in a foot race, and even fewer could survive his run when they tried to run away. The best-case scenario for recent matches is that the 34-year-old club captain is still recovering after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. For a player whose illustrious career has been defined by the afterburner, there is no need to think of much worse than that.

Proposed solution: Drop the defensive line back…if Guardiola can handle it.

5. What are they going to do with the roadie?

And through all these headaches about Guardiola, the answer always seems to be the same. Who can fill the gap the opposition is looking for between City lines? This is Rhodri. Do you need someone to change your central defence? Roadie. Could it be possible to pick up a bit of a creative edge for Foden and weigh in on a few goals to give Haaland a break? Okay, it’s not something a roadie would do, but I’m sure he’ll give it a try.

Rodri is the heartbeat of City. In a squad with so many ups and downs on the age curve, the 28-year-old was at his peak. Not only would he be a Ballon d’Or winner in 2024, he would have been a great winner in 2025 as well. He got them into the final third and kept them there, dominating the opposition so they had no chance of a breakaway. City’s territorial dominance has always provided ample opportunity for Haaland’s supporting performances. He even took some important things with him himself.

The man who filled that gap was on City’s list and couldn’t be. Kovacic provides some of Rodri’s possession ability without the eye for interceptions or the power to win an extra 5% of duels. Perhaps January will give them a chance to find a better stopgap measure. Real Sociedad’s Martin Zuvimendi has been linked with a move and he would be a fitting profile. Stopping a Rodri-shaped hole against England in the Euro final would be a good start, but doing so for half a season would be another matter entirely. Perhaps this will be more difficult than anyone else’s, with even Guardiola unable to put in place a system to alleviate Rodri’s absence.

Proposed solution: ¯\_(tsu)_/¯